Proscenium Circus Gears up for Festival

After ABRHS sophomore Roan Shea underwent shoulder surgery, he knew that a break from playing sports would be necessary. Shea hadn’t quite figured out what to do with this newfound time when a group of friends encouraged him to try out for Proscenium Circus’ festival play, Fuenteovejuna.

Shea’s only prior theatre experience was working on a stage crew as a 7^th grader, taking Linda Potter’s Intro to Acting class and playing the lead part in last year’s freshman class play.

Remembering Potter’s course as “awesome” and the class play experience as “one of the best times of my life,” Shea set out to memorize a monologue and a small passage from the script.

He had two days to prepare for his audition.

When call backs were posted, Shea’s name was on the list.

When the cast was announced, he learned he’d be playing Frondoso, Fuenteovejuna’s male lead.

Pitched to Potter as a possible festival play by Susan Williams last spring, Lope de Vega’s original script runs over two hours long. “I brought it to Linda and we read it. I helped her conceptualize how it could be done on stage,” said Williams, who will act as Associate Director for the production.

“I listened and was completely captivated,” said Potter.

The challenge would be re-working the script to meet the strict 40-minute-start-to-finish limit imposed by the drama guild.

That’s where ABRHS Spanish teacher Diego Mansilla came in. “Linda was so excited. ‘Look at this! This is great!’ ” he said Potter told him, pointing to a compelling passage in Fuenteovejuna.

Growing up in Argentina, Mansilla studied the play in high school and saw it performed several times. “I remembered that scene and I completely agreed that it would be a great idea to present this play,” he said.

“I immediately wanted to be a part of it.”

Mansilla began writing a script by making cuts to the original screenplay. He then brought it to a team that included Potter, Williams and other Proscenium Circus members, including several students.

“When he gave us the script early in the fall, a small group met to read it and help shape it further. I continued to work with Linda to brainstorm the staging, the scenes, the costumes, etc., until she felt good about the direction,” said Williams.

“Every time we read the script there were intelligent and creative suggestions on how to perfect it,” said Mansilla. “The script is the result of the effort and contributions of the whole team.”

Calling Mansilla “an inspiration to the cast and to me personally,” Potter said she doesn’t really know how he managed to incorporate all the recommendations.

”Diego’s work is brilliant,” Potter said.

Based on historical events that took place in Spain in 1476, Fuenteovejuna chronicles a violent uprising against a tyrannical comendador. “There are two stories in one,” said Mansilla. There is the change of power, but there is also a love story.”

Mansilla, who has already begun working as a dialect coach for Shea and other cast members, names several objectives for the actors. The obvious challenges include pronouncing the Spanish lines correctly and speaking English with an accent. More subtle will be the transformation of the characters. “The events are so strong,” he said. “They need to show change.”

Shea has confidence in his fellow actors. Calling the script "awesome," he said, “I’m acting now with everyone that I’ve been watching the past few years, like the seniors. Amy Bullock is the female lead, Laurencia, and Oliver Tejeda is the Comendador.”

“It’s really cool,” Shea said.

"We need to do a good job," said Mansilla. At his invitation, three people from the Embassy of Spain are coming from Boston to see Proscenium Circus' portrayal of this classic.

Explaining that the ideal festival show “has a powerful message and strong roles for the actors,” Williams said, “We are very excited about Fuenteovejuna.”

Fuenteovejuna will be performed at the high school on February 28, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.  Admission is $11; ABSAF pass holders, staff and season ticketholders may reserve seats at ABDrama.org.

The preliminary rounds of the METG drama festival will be held on March 3, 2011. Semi-finals will occur on March 10, 2011. Dates for finals and locations have not yet been announced.

There are 115 schools expected to compete.